By Nour Abu Aisha
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The outage of communication and internet services for a fifth consecutive day could escalate the humanitarian crisis, the Gaza Media Office said Tuesday.
“No one will be able to report information about the casualties due to the cut off, therefore, the emergency services will not be reached,” it said.
“Consequently, resulting in a twofold increase in the number of casualties amid the continued Israeli brutal war,” according to the Office.
It noted that Israel deliberately cut off communication services which the Media Office described it as a ''premeditated, comprehensive crime.''
It also appealed to involved international organizations to exert pressure on Israel to reactivate services and to put an end to the ongoing tragedy.
Two Palestinian telecommunications companies operating in the Gaza Strip reported a telecommunication and internet outage Friday in most of the enclave, marking the ninth cut-off since Oct. 7.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.
At least 24,285 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,154 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio